Melbourne

From http://iansaleadventures.blogspot.com/

Had a few days in Melbourne, taking in the tennis (bad luck Andy - next time) so just managed to suss out a couple of decent city centre hostelries.

The Portland Hotel (http://www.portlandhotel.com.au/) in Russell St houses one of James Squire's microbreweries. Good pub - tasting paddles available and nice outward looking open window high seats. Their flagship ale - Portland Pale - is a cracking brew, and one of a total of 8 available that day. I did spot a bit of an Aussie rarity too - a hand pump. Unfortunately, it wasn't being used on either of the days we were there, but the barman told me that they did use it when the Barmy Army were in town recently.

At first glance the brewing equipment almost appeared to be just a marketing showpiece, but, on closer inspection, it was actually in use. Here's a couple of photos I took:

The working brewery in James Squire's.

Sampler paddles in James Squire's.

Lots of informative brewing paraphernalia on the walls, including what was almost a "Brewing For Dummies" guide - helpful for the average punter, me included.

On our second visit there, I got talking to one of the regulars and he advised me to try out a place called Mrs Parma's which exclusively features all of Victoria State's microbreweries' ales (on a rolling basis), which I have now discovered amount to 35 in total (out of 120 in the whole of Oz). Good place and there was a nice marketing booklet available to punters, which included a Foreword from the Minister for Regional and Rural Development - the equivalent of Scotland's Richard Lochhead. Pity we don't see the same tangible support for the Scottish microbreweries.

Again, the tasting paddles were available to help select which beers to drink and this time, the barman even supplied us with a voting and feedback chart. Worth a visit.

Taster paddle, brew notes and voting sheet at Mrs Parma's.

Microbreweries in the State of Victoria.